Happy Thanksgiving!

The week of Thanksgiving had arrived and we had so much to be thankful for!  To serve the Lord here and to be able to mingle with the missionaries is something that we are really grateful for and really love.  Glen and I are companions, and we spend nearly every minute together and that has been really awesome--my favorite thing.  We have such a wonderful supportive family who have been so good to us.  Our health has been good, the weather has been good, and we have met so many wonderful people here.  We are so thankful for the scriptures and the words of the living prophets which has been our light in the darkness and water in the desert.  But mostly we are thankful for our Savior, Jesus Christ, for his life and example and the power of the atonement.

On the Sunday before Thanksgiving we were asked to speak in our ward, the Buffalo ward.  We just really like our ward, and the people were so kind and said such nice things after we spoke.  We were grateful for the opportunity to talk about our missions.

After church we were invited to Spencer and Jill Judd's home for dinner.  What a great family they have and we loved getting to know them.  And what a wonderful dinner they made!  We just marvel at how kind people are.

After the dinner we rushed over to the stake center for the baptism of the twin girls that we were able to teach one time with Elder Alford and Elder Vieira.  It's always so good to be with them.  They were adorable and the baptism was so nice--I just love going to baptisms.  As we came in, the ward mission leader asked me to play the piano!  I really am so thankful that I can play many of the hymns.  

We got this adorable artwork from Siena in the mail.  Quite the artist for a 5 year old, huh? Thank you for sending us your beautiful picture, Siena!

We also got this from 3 year old Turin.  So so cute!  Thank you Turin!

Because the mission office was going to be closed for the Thanksgiving holiday, we were given permission to drive home for the birth of Lisa and Adam's baby, and we were SO excited to go!  We worked like crazy to get things done at the mission office so that we could leave, and as we drove home to Layton, it seemed unreal that we were really going.  What would it be like?  Would the grandkids have forgotten us?  Would we be a burden on Adam and Lisa as we stayed at "their" house? We would soon see!  We were so thankful that the forecast was for beautiful weather in Utah.

We stopped in Provo on our way to Layton to see Lindsey's office where she works as a registered dietitian in Provo.  She had it decorated to cute!  We even ate dinner there!  It was so crazy that when we got home it seemed so natural and so much like we'd only been gone on a short trip.  I wondered if that's what it would be like when we die and go "home"--like we've only been gone for a short while.  We were hoping that Lisa would have her baby on Wednesday so we could help her as much as possible--but no baby!

On Thanksgiving day it was so so fun to just be able to play with the grandkids.  And that's pretty much what I did all day long!  It was awesome.  Oh, how I had missed them!

We had the most amazing dinner at Jared and Michelle's house.  Jared had made this awesome brie cheese dish and Lindsey helped with the meal so much and had made a turkey out of fruit!  To be together with the family--what a precious gift!

After dinner, our kids wanted to give us their Christmas present to us early.  I couldn't imagine why--until I opened it--and it was a large computer monitor!  The one I work on 8-10 hours a day is so small and this one is B I G!!  Many times I work off of three documents at a time--one from IMOS, one for letters, and one for labels, so I have to keep switching documents, which is very time consuming.  Now I will be able to have all the documents on the same screen at the same time!  Can you believe they were so thoughtful to get that for me?  When Brandon and Lindsey came to visit us in Las Vegas they could see how tedious it was for me and they came up with the idea.  Thank you dear family!

On Friday night we had pizza and game night at our house and we laughed our heads off!  

On Saturday morning, Lincoln Walker Stevens was born, weighing 7 lbs. 11 oz. and 21" long.  This is only a few hours after he was born--can you believe how good Lisa looks?  And she even went natural! 

So handsome!  We just marveled at the miracle of birth and a new baby--the miracle of joint creation.

Proud parents and grandparents!  Thank you, family, for an incredible visit!  We love you so much!  We knew it was time to go back to our mission now, feeling quite happy.